Through the Glass
by Queens of Madness
Summary: Thalia and Clio Solberg are fraternal twin sisters who decided to celebrate the beginning of their last summer before college with a Super Smash marathon in the Subspace Emissary. Little did they plan for the impossible events that would occur when their favorite characters begin to talk to them, and soon come into the world. But, for there to be heroes, there needs to be villains.
1. Chapter 1

**Chapter 1:**

**Through the Glass**

The doors of a large mansion in Stjerneberg, Fyrigmark slammed open with a deafening bang that echoed throughout the empty house. This noise was accompanied by raucous laughter coming from the bodies of two teenage girls, laden with their school items and boxes of Asian takeout. The twins chuckled with mirth to themselves, throwing their old backpacks into their "closet of no return" (so dubbed by their queenly older sister) and then took their other, more loved items (for the black-haired girl her saxophone, English horn, and oboe and for the brunette her gymnastics utilities and books) to the living area to set down.

Together, the twins took their Asian food with them to the living room as they began to plot what to do with their newfound freedom for the rest of summer.

"So, what should we do now?" asked the brunette to her twin.

"Hmm," the black haired twin pondered. "Well, Clio, there are parties… we could hang out with friends… Go shopping…"

"Or we could play Super Smash," Clio responded. Her twin grinned.

"Super Smash, here we come!"

The girl's dashed upstairs, then plopped down on the couch in their game room with their Asian take-out, pillows, and water bottles, prepared to spend hours playing their favorite video game. "Want to play through the Subspace again?" Thalia asked Clio cheerfully.

"Sounds good! Hardest difficulty?" Clio replied.

Thalia snorted. "No duh."

* * *

And they did indeed spend hours playing through the campaign mode, only taking a break once they made it to the 50 percent mark. "Woo!" The fraternal twins high-fived, grinning happily.

"And we made it to the ultimate duo!" Clio cheerfully exclaimed.

"Alright! We should save it here," Thalia happily stated. She didn't want to lose their project. They'd just spent around twelve hours playing the Subspace.

Clio nodded and did so before she turned to Thalia and bluntly said, "I want ice cream."

Thalia nodded. "Me too."

Clio looked at her watch. "And it's only midnight."

Thalia grinned. "McDonalds or Sonic?"

Clio shrugged. "Whichever. Though I would like some mozzarella sticks."

Thalia pumped her fist into the air. "Sonic it is!"

Clio pointed to the door. "Onward!"

They leapt up and prepared to leave.

Clio waved behind her. "Bye guys! See you in a bit!"

Thalia laughed. "Love ya Ike!"

Clio burst out laughing too. "Love ya Yoshi, Marth, Pikachu, Samus, Link, Isaac, Kirby..."

Thalia finished Clio's list with, "Meta Knight, Lucario, Pit, Charizard, and Peach!"

The twins were still chortling as they walked to the car, Thalia grabbing her keys and Clio grabbing her money. Before they left the room though, Thalia turned to her sister.

"You know Isaac isn't a playable character."

"He's an assist trophy, so he's in the game!"

"True enough."

After returning from the fifteen minute drive back to their mansion, the girls came back in, singing _Don't Worry Child_ by Swedish House Mafia and slurping their milkshakes simultaneously. They also carried two bags filled with snacks of the Sonic variety. They had planned on only getting mozzarella cheese sticks, but once they had arrived at the Sonic in town, they decided that it was a waste not to get more food since they were most likely going to pull an all-nighter.

"I love popcorn chicken!" Thalia improvised when she reached a part in the tune that she couldn't understand the words for.

"I love fast food in general," Clio chimed in with her twin to the tune of the musical break.

"Especially fast food at one in the morning," Thalia sang.

"Because eating things at one in the morning automatically makes them better," Clio sang again. The two made their way into the game room, bouncing as they danced to the tune in their heads. After their freak-out was over, the two plopped down in front of their large LED TV screen and picked up where they had left off in the Subspace.

"We have the full dream team!" Clio exclaimed as the two twins re-watched the cut scene they had seen over a million times.

"Never gets old," Thalia remarked nostalgically. They entered the Great Maze and selected a few characters they hadn't played in a while.

"How many times have they played this game?" Came a voice. Thalia turned to Clio.

"Clio, I just sort of said. It feels like it's been over a million times." Clio gave Thalia a confused look.

"I thought that you asked that, Thalia."

"I wonder what they're talking about," the voice asked curiously.

"Yeah, it's like their responding to me," the first voice said. There was silence throughout the room.

"Can they hear us?" the question came from both sides of the screen. There was an awkward silence as Clio and Thalia grabbed at each other anxiously. They were speaking. The video game characters were speaking. Why could they hear them speaking? Were they hallucinating? Was this a fanfiction?

Thalia looked at the screen; the characters were bouncing, seeming to await commands from the two girls. "Hi," Thalia started awkwardly. There was an awkward pause as finally Pit spoke up in response.

"Hi…?"

"Hello…? Marth stated with confusion.

"Oh my God," Clio began. "Did we just break the laws of physics?"

Thalia nodded. "I think we did." Back to the characters, she said: "So, how's life…?"

"Well," Pit began unsurely, "We're kind of in the middle of a stage."

"Hi," Clio greeted, coming out of reverie.

"Hello," Marth's voice was polite.

"Am I really talking to _the_ Marth from _Fire Emblem_?" Clio questioned rhetorically.

"Yes," Marth answered. "I'm not sure how, but for some reason, we are able to communicate."

Clio nodded. "It seems that way."

There was another awkward pause. "So..." Pit intoned.

"How are you today?" Marth asked calmly.

Thalia grinned. "It was a pretty good day, actually. This is kind of the icing on the cake."

Clio added, "How's your day been?"

The twins had a feeling Marth would've shrugged if he could. "Not bad. You haven't killed us many times."

There was yet another awkward pause. "Huh. Does dying in the subspace… hurt?" Clio asked cautiously.

Pit laughed a bit. "Going off of your dramatic screams, I think it hurts you more than it hurts us."

The twins stared at each other and then looked back to the screen. "We're really sorry whenever we die... or suicide..." Thalia apologized sheepishly.

Pit and Marth both laughed. "It's really not that big of a deal. We're used to dying."

Clio's and Thalia's mouths dropped. "That's awful!" They both exclaimed.

"It's not that bad. Losing hurts, but winning is awesome!" Pit stated cheerfully, trying to lighten the mood.

The twins didn't know what to say to that, instead choosing to gape at the screen.

"I just thought of something." Clio mumbled.

Thalia nodded. "I bet I had the same thought."

Clio shook her head in wonder. "They follow the controls because they have to, but they think on their own."

Thalia gazed at the screen. "Whoa. I was thinking the same thing."

Marth whispered to Pit, "What should we do?"

Pit shrugged (not that the twins could see it) and replied. "I have no idea. Talk to them? Convince them they're hallucinating? Do we want them to know we're sort of alive?"

Right when he said that, Thalia burst out laughing. "Best. Hallucination. EVER."

Clio joined in. "It must have been the mozzarella sticks!"

Marth and Pit could only join in laughing, thoroughly amused by the twins' explanation.

"Now then. Shall we chat and continue?" Thalia asked each party politely.

"Sounds good"

"Okay."

"Alright!"

The twins played on, making occasional small talk with the two characters and laughing as they did so, however, now that they knew the characters were "alive", so to speak, the girls were extremely careful, trying not to kill either Marth or Pit.

"Do you think if Link or Ike had to come out, that we could talk to them too?" Thalia asked offhandedly as she deflected a Primid's boomerang before effectively knocking him off screen with Pit's side-A move.

Clio paused, before slashing at another foe with Marth. "I don't know."

"I'm curious."

"Me too."

"But I really don't want to kill either Marth or Pit."

"Same here," Clio responded before getting knocked off of the platform during a moment of distraction (her phone had gone off). "Shit!" she cursed as Marth blasted off screen. "I'm so sorry Marth!"

Thalia gasped as she watched Marth fly off. "No!" she called out. "Marth!"

Pit let out a grunt as he was hit with a boomerang. Thalia started to chant to herself: "Up-B, up-B, up-B" over and over again as she used Pit's Wings of Icarus to get him back on the platform.

"Link is onboard," Clio narrated as the Hylian came on screen with a courageous: "Hya!"

"He always makes that sound, right?" Thalia questioned, worried at Pit's rising damage gauge. She didn't want the cute kid to die! It would be like killing off one of the children at her Taekwondo studio!

"Not when he first enters," Clio answered as she used Link's boomerang to knock a few Primids down.

"Hya!" he yelled again, throwing a bomb at an enemy.

"He always makes the same noises so I'm not sure," Thalia told her twin who nodded in agreement. Neither girl could tell what the Hylian was saying (if he was saying anything).

"Hey Pit!" Clio called out. "Will Marth be okay?" She asked while slashing a Greap.

Pit replied, "Yeah, he'll be okay. He was just trophified."

"Can Link not talk?" Thalia inquired while also fending of some other enemies.

Pit replied quickly, "Not in Subspace or in any of his games. He can while in the Holding Tank."

"The Waiting Room?" Both girls repeated in befuddlement.

Pit absentmindedly replied to Link's unasked question, "Yeah, they can apparently talk to us now. No, I have no idea when this happened."

"Huh?" The twins confusedly mumbled.

"Sorry, Link was confused," Pit called out to clear any more befuddlement.

The girls nodded before remembering that the characters couldn't see them. "Okie dokie," Clio answered, deftly clicking buttons.

Thalia pressed on, almost getting blown off screen, before using her favorite move, up-B. "Could you explain what the Waiting Room is?"

Pit grinned. "Sure. It's technically called the After Game Building, but we refer to the whole complex as the holding tank. It's sort of a holding place for all of created Nintendo characters. In the building we have the rooms for all of the characters, the Smash Quarter, and the Waiting Room. The Waiting Room is for the characters trying to get a new game or be in a new game. The Smash Quarter is for current smashers to hang out and prepare themselves. We each get our own rooms there and better amenities. The Waiting Room is where every Nintendo character goes after their games are released. The ones who are in the current Super Smash Bros get to stay in Smash Quarter instead of going back to the Waiting Room."

"So Super Smash is kind of like the big leagues," Thalia compared. "It's like the "Boss Game", where only the best of the best get to play."

"Yeah," Pit said before groaning as he was hit by a Greap.

Thalia winced and said apologetically, "Sorry, Pit."

"It's fine," Pit responded kindly, although his voice sounded slightly pained. His damage was at two hundred.

"I think that you're going to die soon, Pit," Clio said with worry in her voice. Thalia bit her lip, trying to save Pit from any more damage. While Ike would come in next and even though he was her favorite character to play as, Thalia didn't want Pit to get hurt.

"I won't die," Pit tried to ease their hearts. "I'll just get turned into a trophy and get healed up while the others fight."

"Yeah, but I can't play you then," Thalia frowned.

"But you can play Ike," Pit said enthusiastically before hissing in pain as he was thrown upwards by the Greap's downward slash. Clio used Link to slash at the Greap with one of his strong combo attacks. Thalia in turn moved Pit far away from the Greap and began to use distance attacks from his bow. Both the girls expertly knocking off the Greap's HP.

Pit got hit again and his meter rose significantly. He flew up and then hit the screen, sliding off.

"No!" It was exclaimed by both Thalia and Clio. Clio continued to attack the Greap with Link's Master Sword, defeating it soundly. Just as Clio began to move on, Ike appeared.

"Do you think that Ike can talk to us too?" Clio whispered to her twin.

Thalia shrugged and whispered back: "I don't know. I'll ask." To the screen, the black-haired twin questioned: "Hey, Ike, can you hear us too?"

Thalia and Clio had stopped moving the characters, instead waiting for a response.

On the other side of the screen, Ike stared at Link with an expression that screamed, "Why are they talking to me?"

Link shrugged, before acting out a series of events meaning, "Don't know why but they can hear us and we can talk to them, Marth and Pit were talking to them, they're pretty nice and all."

Ike nodded before tentatively calling out, "Uh... I can. Well... We always can. Can you hear me?"

The girls grinned at each other. "We can! Awesome!"

Ike was very lost. "I think I missed something. What's going on?"

Thalia laughed. "We barely know ourselves. We think that Clio and I are hallucinating. Oh yeah, I'm Thalia, and this is my twin sister, Clio."

Clio started to wave before catching herself and instead cheerfully saying, "Nice to meet you."

Ike facepalmed before mouthing at Link, "They're in denial and think they're hallucinating?"

Link grinned a bit and nodded. Ike shook his head in response.

Clio froze. Thalia turned to look at her. "What's wrong? Clio." Adding who she was talking to for the gaming characters.

Clio turned to look at her twin in shock. "They could always hear us?"

Thalia froze as well, her face paling. "That's why they always knew what we were talking about. I thought it was part of the hallucination."

Link snickered. Then mouthed something at Ike.

He chortled a bit before whispering, "No, I'm not going to mess with them. I'll just feign ignorance."

Unfortunately for him, the girls heard. "Mess with us about what?" Clio asked cautiously.

Thalia grabbed Clio's arm. "They heard what we talked about while playing their characters."

Ike laughed out loud this time. "Yeah, we did. It's really not a big deal."

Thalia paled. "It is too!"

Link was practically giggling like a school girl.

Clio timidly whispered, "Do you remember what we talk about?"

To his credit, Ike tried to diffuse the situation. But... He failed. "Well... Some. But we don't judge! It was fun to listen to you guys! It made us laugh!"

Now Link facepalmed.

Clio and Thalia gaped at each other. "You hear us talk about... All the private stuff you're not supposed to hear!?" Thalia stammered.

Ike felt very awkward. "Um..."

Clio almost shouted, "The characters don't talk about it, do they? You don't share what you heard, right?"

Ike was silent.

Thalia mumbled, "I'll take that as a yes."

Clio shook her head. "We talk about some really embarrassing stuff... Whoops."

Thalia suddenly let out a desperate laugh. "At least it's all a dream!"

Ike and Link shared a look. These girls were certainly dense.

The girl continued: "That Sonic Blast went straight to my head. What is it? Two in the morning?"

"You know, we've never been lucid dreamers," Clio continued. "But I'm having trouble believing that this situation is real."

"But if it is real, and they could always hear us…" a cold feeling settled in Thalia's head as she gulped, and, casting a side glance at the screen, switched into Norse: "**What about the time we were talking about which ones we would rape**?"

"**You mean the time that **_**you**_** were talking about which one **_**you **_**would rape**," Clio answered in their secondary tongue.

"**I was young, naïve and fourteen at the time**," Thalia brushed it off, but reiterated. "**Ike could have **_**heard**_** that! Do you know how embarrassing that is? For both of us. Me because I said I'd would rape him if I had to, and him because he heard a fourteen year old girl say that she would rape him!**"

"**Maybe he forgot…? It was four years ago. Besides, we were tired! It was four o'clock in the morning,"** Clio tried to comfort her panicking younger twin.

"What are you two talking about?" Ike was curious. For some reason, Link seemed to understand their conversation and was laughing at the two girls, occasionally sending pointed glances at Ike before bursting back into gut-crunching chortling.

"Nothing you need to know about," Thalia replied coolly. Clio sent her a look that asked: "Why are you so cold now?" Thalia shrugged in response.

"So, Ike, how's life…?" Clio tried to begin a conversation.

"It's fine, I suppose," he was still off-put by being able to talk to the two gamers. This had never happened to any of the video game characters before.

"Fan-freaking-tastic," Thalia said before making Ike run forward a bit, showing that she wanted to get on with the game.

"**What's wrong with you**?" Clio asked Thalia in Norse. The two girls were used to speaking in the tongue when their parent's crazy friends were around. The Nordic language seemed to be the only one that Alenka, their Mom's best friend and their etiquette teacher, didn't know. The only reason Alenka didn't speak it was because she felt it was barbaric and grammatically nonsensical. Even if Norse was the regional language of Komaeldr, Alenka found it awkward to speak.

"**I just feel a little awkward**," she answered in their regional language.

"**Because he knows that you adore him**?"

"**Yeah**," suddenly an idea struck the black-haired girl. "**I know! I'll just up my sarcasm when I speak to him**!" (A/N: It's two o'clock in the morning. Good ideas rarely appear after you've been up for 18 hours.)

Clio facepalmed at her sister. Thalia was sarcastic enough as it was. "**That's not a good idea**..."

The girls then heard raucous laughter from the television screen compromised of "ha" and "hya". Ike spoke up over the guffawing in the background. "Um, Link says that's a bad idea."

"He can understand us?"

"Apparently."

"I can't," Ike informed them.

"Good," Thalia said with a patronizing lit as she walloped a few primids with Ike's Aether.

"So you definitely are talking about me. Care to share?" Ike sounded miffed.

"Not really," Thalia responded, rolling her eyes to match her sarcastic tone much to Clio's chagrin.

"**I** **bet they can't even tell our voices apart!"** Clio desperately tried to stop Thalia from antagonizing her favorite character. "**Ask Link**!"

Thalia paused. "That reminds me. Can they see us?"

"Huh. I don't remember us asking Marth or Pit that."

"Hey, Link," Thalia called out before switching into Norse. "**Can you see us**?"

Ike grumbled irritably. "He says no. You could have just asked me."

"Thanks," Thalia muttered absentmindedly. Directing her question at Ike this time, in response to his last statement, and asked: "Are you able to tell our voices apart? Mine and Clio's?"

"When we're really trying to and keeping up with the conversation, we can grasp who's saying what," Ike said thoughtfully. "But we can't remember specific quotes most of the time. Oh yeah. You guys are twins right? I just want to make sure."

Thalia inwardly fist-pumped in victory. He probably doesn't remember! "Yes, we're fraternal twins."

Clio chimed in, "I'm older!"

Thalia stuck her tongue out at Clio before adding, "By only 9 minutes!"

Clio shrugged and smiled broadly, "True, but that doesn't change the fact."

Thalia rolled her eyes affectionately then grinned evilly, turning back to the screen. A thought popped into her head. "So, Ike, judging by our voices, do you think that we're hot?"

There was a pause before a "Hya" sounded and Ike grumbled: "Link says "yes" and I don't know."

"Lame," Thalia chimed. "Thank you Link!" Clio exclaimed happily. Getting back to business, Clio continued on the earlier train of thought.

"So, you don't remember what we've said?"

"Not really. Although," Ike continued, "I think I remember that one of you mentioned something about raping me four years ago. Quotes like that stick out in one's memory."

Link's laughter, which had died down, once again turned into heavy guffaws. Clio scratched her head and chuckled awkwardly, watching her sister take on a mask of horror.

"Wow," Clio sounded sheepish. "That comment must have made an impact."

"Eh, I'm fine with it," Ike stated. "I laughed. I've heard worse, more serious things."

"Bitch say what?" Thalia asked in confusion. Someone threatened Ike with something worse than rape?

"I mean that you guys weren't saying anything threatening and it wasn't like you were serious. You were just kids. I'm sure that you didn't understand the implications at the time. If your vocations are anything to go by, I have to assume that you're ashamed of what was said, which shows a maturing of your character," Ike calmly explained.

Thalia chuckled with embarrassment, happy that the situation was diffused and no harm was done to her relationship (or lack thereof) with Ike. From then on out, the conversation far more pleasant. The girls gained particular amusement from Link's comments that he would pantomime for an embarrassed Ike to say. The group continued playing, finishing the level.

"Will we be able to talk to you next time we see you?" Thalia asked quietly. Ike shrugged before answering.

"I honestly have no idea. We shouldn't be able to talk to you now. I think it's definitely a possibility."

The girls hesitated a second in front of the final door. "Okay then. Goodbye I guess, we hope to talk to you again," Clio and Thalia said together before guiding Ike and Link through the last door to clear the stage they had been on.

* * *

Two hours later, the twins had finally reached the last bit of the game where they were challenging Tabuu, the worst boss in the history of the world. The girls beat the great maze with "the guys" as they were now referred to. (Ike, Pit, Link, Marth) Now, it finally came to where they were going to choose their characters for battle. They could hear slight utterances from the screen, but couldn't make out any specific words. Wanting to the game with their new friends, they chose Ike, Marth, Link, and Pit to be their warriors.

The battle started and the two girls were suddenly very still, losing their previous relaxed positions.

Then, all hell broke loose in the room as they began to battle, mashing buttons with a fury, trying to beat the final boss.

"No. No. No. No. No. No. No…"

"Right! I said go right! Dumbass!"

"Who're you calling a dumbass?"

"No-EEK!"

"WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT MOVE! CHEAP SHOT! CHEAP SHOT!"

"Just keep using Ike's Aether, Thalia! It'll be fine! We still have Marth and Pit as backup!"

"What do you think I'm doing? Go, Ike! Go! Damn, I wish that we had a smash-ball. This thing would be dead in a heartbeat!"

"Ugh!"

"Oi, that's got to have hurt…"

"Poor –NO! IKE! WHY DID YOU DIE? KEEP GOING, CLIO! KEEP ATTACKING!"

"WHAT DO YOU THINK I'M DOING?"

"Yeah! Let's go, Pit!"

"LINK…! NO! WHY?!"

"You just had to get hit off screen."

"You were hit off first!"

"Go spinny-discy-thingy! We got this Pit!"

"Alright Marth, we can do this!" The girls vaguely realized the characters responded with their signature battle cries. the sound of mashing buttons continued to fill the game room as the two girls made both Marth and Pit run around the screen, slashing and firing arrows at the opponent. They had been playing this game for over eleven hours now, and they were not about to let Tabuu finish them off. Even with Pit and Marth not being the twins' best characters to play as, the two girls were doing some pretty heavy damage to the final boss.

"I think we might win," Clio said hopefully, blue eyes glued to the screen as she sent Marth into a forward slash.

"Don't jinx it…" Thalia used Pit's light arrows in a rapid succession, the two attacks spamming against the boss, knocking away his HP.

"I'm serious though," Clio reiterated. "We might have a chance!"

Just as the words left the brunette's mouth, Tabuu fired off his Golden Bracket move, which effectively knocked both Marth and Pit off screen, stopping the battle.

"RAGE QUIT!" Thalia shrieked, throwing the Wii remote to the ground in a fit of fury. Turning to her twin, she said with venom: "You just _had_ to jinx us. "We'll win" she says "We have a chance" she says "It'll be fun" she says. Well no! We died! Rawr!"

"Oh yeah? _Who_ died first?"

"He hit me with an OHKO move!"

"Oh, I'm sorry. Next you're going to tell me that was my fault."

"You were useless as Link!"

"Oh yeah, sorry about that. But you were spamming Pit's most useless attack!"

"That is true. Hm. Let's try again."

The twins finished their argument as quickly as they started it, neither able to be angry at the other for more than a few minutes. Turning back to the screen to begin the battle again, Thalia prepared to click continue only to see… Nothing.

The trophies were gone and a blinding blink of white light had led to the screen reverting back to the title page.

"Where are the trophies…?" Thalia asked, clutching her controller hard in her hands.

"They're gone…" Clio said softly. Her voice rose into a fearful pitch. "Why are they gone?"

"I don't know…" Suddenly, the fact that they were no longer looking at the Subspace screen filtered into Thalia's mind and a terrified thought raced through her head. "Our data…"

"What?"

"What about our data…?"

"No…" Clio's hands trembled as she tried to use the controls on the remote. "No… Not the data… Not the data!"

"I knew that we should have saved when we hallucinated! Now we have to do it all over again!"

"No! This can't be happening!"

"Why, cruel world, why?!"

"I don't want to do it again. I don't want to do it again. I don't want to do it again."

"I don't either. And right when they started talking too… It's just sad!"

The two girls clutched at each other as they stared, horror-stricken, at the screen in front of them. Whimpers escaped their mouths and they could hardly hold back their tears. Why? It was so unfair!

"Um, excuse me. I believe that you are Miss Clio and Miss Thalia…? Sorry to intrude."

The two girls froze, jolted out of their melancholy as a very familiar voice spoke behind them.

* * *

**So, we were reading over Chronicles of the Poofed (Chronicles of the Poofed is the first draft of this story and is posted on a different account: Queen of the Squares. It's really good PWP!), and we realized that it was totally and completely crack. There was no logic behind it. It was fun and we'll continue the crack, but we wanted a more realistic and thoughtful version. So, we came up with a good plot and an actual reason for the characters to come to the real world. We hope that you will look into both stories and appreciate the differences. We think that both are pretty funny. **


	2. Chapter 2

**C****hapter 2:**

**Through the Glass**

The girls clung to each other, afraid to turn around and see what awaited them.

"If you're a creeper, we'll beat the shit out of you," Thalia snarled out, the instincts beaten into her by years of martial arts filtering through her mind as she began to calculate which style would be best to use. She was slightly nervous despite herself, unconsciously wondering how the person had gotten past the security.

"There's a gun under the couch," Clio added, all she would have to do was sweep her foot and then the gun would be in her possession. The girls' father was very paranoid after years of war and had unconsciously influenced his daughters to be the same.

"I don't think that's a wise decision," the voice told them and then Thalia gasped as her brain's vocal recognition began to work.

"Marth?!" she questioned in shock. The shock was due to both the video game character appearing in her living room and the fact that she hadn't recognized his voice sooner. The girls' had been talking to him for the past two hours.

"Well… Yes."

The girls turned to look at each other.

"I'm too scared to turn around," Clio mumbled out.

Thalia nodded in agreement.

"How come?" a gruff voice asked.

"Ike…?" Thalia whispered. The twins could hear him shuffle around awkwardly.

"Yeah."

Then, a smooth voice with a bit of an accent questioned, "Yeah, why are you so scared?" before pausing and cheering. "I CAN SPEAK!"

Clio and Thalia shook a bit. "Because… it's not possible for the video games to be real, so you must be a serial killer."

"I can talk!" Link cheered again, whooping happily. "This is great! Now my snarky comments will be heard!"

"Link's snarky?" Thalia swooned. "I think I'm in love~!"

Link chuckled and Pit snickered as well, before correcting Thalia. "He's not really that snarky. He likes to think he's witty, but he's just a big softie and a chronic jokester."

"Pit too," the girls breathed out.

"Hello!" Pit cheerfully responded. "It's nice to fully meet you. If you'll turn around for us, I'd be very happy!"

Ike shuffled. "It feels weird to be out here."

"But… It can't be…" Clio stammered. "It's… supposed to be impossible."

"This only happens in fanfictions," Thalia agreed.

"Does that make us Marysues? NOOOO!" Clio cried out dramatically before sharing a look with Thalia that caused the twins to burst out into uncontrollable laughter to break some of the tension. "I don't want to turn around. Maybe it's just very clever stalkers who have been following us and know what to say," Clio sighed.

Thalia nodded. "Or with our luck, it really is the characters but they'll disappear as soon as we try to look at them."

"I'm sure that won't happen," Marth tried to soothe the two girls.

"Or they'll turn out to be Slenderman," Clio nodded.

Thalia joined in the nodding, taking on a scholarly air. "That must be how he gets his victims: Pretending to be their favorite characters."

"Slender is a terrible… thing," Clio was going to say person, but Slenderman wasn't even a human.

"Just turn around. We're not Slenderman, whatever that is," Ike told them as he began to become impatient.

"I don't think so, Mr. Slender," Thalia stated, placing a hand on her hip with attitude. Clio laughed.

"Yeah, we're not dumb, Slender."

"For the love of God," Ike muttered, face-palming at the girls' silly antics. Link turned to his friends.

"Why don't we just walk in front of them?" Link of course was the first to figure this out considering his experience with skittish and slightly annoying creatures. (AN: The cat in the first section of Twilight Princess. Anybody? Anybody?)

"Good idea, Link," Marth acknowledged his friend. The girls stood still as they listened to the footsteps of the video game characters. Pit was the first to come into view. Thalia and Clio gasped, holding back shrill screams of happiness. Thalia couldn't contain herself and jumped Pit, embracing him tightly.

"You're so cute!"

Next, Link walked up slowly, grinning cheekily.

"Hallo!"

Clio screeched out a slightly crazed: "OMGJGWOUFDFKGOIRIEOIZPIZOZIOISZ!" before jump-tackling him to the ground. Ike froze from his position next to Link.

"Oh man. You okay Link?"

Link was laughing, (of course) from his position on the ground, patting the brunette girl's head. "I'm just peachy."

Pit hugged Thalia back, albeit a little reluctantly because he was surprised. "It's nice to finally meet you, Miss Thalia!" he greeted politely.

"I'm so happy!" Thalia responded, squeezing the angel tighter. "And your feathers are so soft! Just like my pet parakeet that died! I miss you Lucky."

"Thank you…?" Pit mumbled and rubbed the girl's back. Thalia pulled back and smiled at the angel.

"You are a beautiful person."

Pit chuckled awkwardly and Thalia grimaced. "Too much?"

"A little bit," The angel replied. Pit looked over to Link were he lay sprawled with the other girl holding him around his middle in a big hug, then to the now hesitant Ike and Marth. Pit grinned. "You should go greet Ike."

Thalia smirked evilly. "I just might." Thalia let go of Pit and smiled at the child, ruffling his soft hair affectionately. As her eyes drifted over to Ike, the satisfied, serene smile she wore suddenly turned into an evil grin. She chuckled darkly and jump-tackled him, sending the two to the ground. Clio propped her head on Link's still laughing stomach to smile broadly at Thalia and make a suggestive wolf call before breaking into giggles. Marth stepped cautiously forward, trying to stay safe and mend the situation at the same time. Clio suddenly lunged forward, like a lioness would pounce on a little gazelle, and grabbed his wrist, pulling the prince to the ground. She then proceeded to wrap her arms around both the Hylian and the royal. Marth let out a bit of an indignant grunt of protest before he collapsed into the hug.

Now it was Thalia's turn to cackle with mirth. She was snuggled up against a certain exasperated and amused blue-haired mercenary. He ruffled her hair with a bit of a chuckle as he looked over to the other guys. None of them were mad. Though the girls didn't know it, the characters felt some affection towards them considering how long the characters have been there. They had been there for quite a few momentous occasions with the girls' and their family.

They had watched these girls go from awkward and insecure kids to enthusiastic and confident young women. Ike placed a hand on the back of Thalia's head ruffled her wavy black hair while Marth shook his head in embarrassment. Link returned Clio's hug with enthusiasm and Pit chuckled a little bit. Thalia looked up at Pit and tugged on the bottom of the young angel's tunic. Pit stopped laughing and looked down before sighing and joining into Ike and Thalia's hug. They all sat there for a few moments, relishing in the love, before they all pulled back, albeit a little awkwardly on the guys' part and hesitantly on the girls' and stood back up.

Clio smiled sheepishly, pushing back her bangs unconsciously. "I guess we're happy to see you –er, meet you in person."

Link smirked. "Finally believe we're real."

Thalia shook her head with a smile. "It shouldn't be possible, but I'm glad it is."

Clio turned to Thalia. "Now we don't need to find the virtual reality technology."

Thalia frowned. "No, we still need it. I want to meet so many more characters."

"Yeah, you're right."

The girls gasped. "Maybe we can bring more of them in!"

In one quick second, the twins were plopped on the ground with the Wii controllers in their hands.

"Maybe we can get them out by simply brawling," Thalia suggested. "We can set up a CPU battle with our favorite characters and see what happens."

Suddenly Clio gasped. "Ike, Pit, Marth, and Link are all gone from the characters selection screen."

"So they are from our game uniquely, huh?" Thalia muttered in reverie. "Hm… who else do you want to bring out?"

"Do you even think that they'd even want to come out."

Link laughed, "Oh, believe us. "They'd" _love_ to come out."

Marth sighed. "5 minutes in the real world and their already bored with us…"

Link, of course, laughed at the girls' shocked expressions.

"No! No! Not at all we…" the girls furiously back-tracked trying to soothe the prince.

"Don't mind him. He's just sulking because he didn't get a welcoming fanfare," Ike cut them off with a teasing tone.

"I am not," Marth scoffed, turning his head to the side indignantly. "Some people just can't hear sarcasm."

Thalia got a smirk on her face. "Aw, is the awesome, handsome, smart, talented, and important Prince Marth unhappy with our welcoming?"

"Yeah, we're sorry that we didn't have a banquet prepared for your _unexpected_ arrival."

Thalia continued. "If you want, I can give you a kiss on your little, pretty cheek."

Clio snickered at this and smirked as well. "I can kiss your feet for you."

"We can be your quaint little French maids."

"I'll contact the butler we don't have."

"Let's go take over King Titus' castle for you right now."

"Or if that's still not enough, we can just be your private concubines!"

Thalia giggled. "I'm down with that."

Clio chuckled. "You do have a blue fetish." The two girls were still laughing as they turned back to the screen to select: Samus, Pikachu, Yoshi, and Lucario.

"That's sarcasm," they chimed together in sing-song voices.

Marth turned red before huffing. "Good grief. Try and make a joke and I get a seven sentence long lecture."

Pit was laughing as he sat down next to the girls. "I liked their joke better."

"It doesn't have to be a joke if you don't want it to be one," Thalia smirked seductively as she shimmied a little bit. Clio elbowed her in the side.

"Don't lose focus on your goal. Remember the one you're after," Clio whispered out of the side of her mouth. Thalia then turned her face to Ike.

"The offer's open to you too, Ike. Weren't you made a lord? I'm sure you got a lot of _special attention_ from the queen."

Ike's jaw dropped in mild horror. "No! We're just friends! Wait -You made the comment, didn't you?"

Thalia paled. "What comment?" She turned back to the screen as she said this, avoiding Ike's gaze. Link, by this time, had broken down and was rolling on the floor in laughter. Ike, sensing weakness, pressed forward.

"Oh really? Selective amnesia, huh?"

"Don't get any ideas. I wouldn't want to come near you with a ten-foot pole!"

"Huh? Well that's not what I heard. Isn't that right, Link?"

Link, because of a lack of oxygen from laughing, could only nod weakly from his place on the floor and motion for Ike to keep going.

"I distinctly remember a certain someone saying that I was a "hot, sexy piece of work.""

"That was Clio!"

"It was not! I only agreed after you said it!" Clio was scandalized. By this point, Marth and disintegrated into laughter too, joining Link on the floor. Pit was holding back bravely, but he knew that after a couple more comments, he would break.

"So, you deny starting a conversation where you guys plotted to figure out if we had abs or not?" Ike continued.

"That wasn't you specifically! And I thought you couldn't tell our voices apart!"

"When you guys are talking like that, we can usually keep up with who's saying what."

"How do you remember all of this?"

"I have a very good memory. A couple of my favorite comments were that I'm a "hunk of moon dough" –whatever that means –and that my "voice is sex" and that you "have a thing for blue" and that I "must be able to handle a sword very well if I can use Ragnell" and, I can't forget this one. It was gold, it really was: "you know what they say about people with big hands" and last, but certainly not least: you "wish that human guys were as hot as I am.""

"Don't get cocky! That means nothing!" Thalia was blushing bright red, pointedly not looking at Ike.

"What an interesting choice of words, hm?" he said, raising an eyebrow.

"You also said he was your favorite character! Like, ever!"

"CLIO, YOU TRAITOR! Link! Clio has a thing for blondes with personality issues!"

"SHUT UP! Ike! She really wants your sword! Both of them!"

"CLIO! SHUT UP! You're my sister! We need to stay united! Remember the old saying that we used to use all the time? Hoes before bros!"

Clio nodded and placed a hand on Thalia's shoulder. "I'm sorry, sister. I will never turn on you like that again."

Thalia nodded as well, placing her hand on Clio's shoulder. "Allies in the face of hotness. Remember your boyfriend."

"I refuse to speak of him!" Clio snapped through clenched teeth. "Remember your boyfriend?"

Thalia glowered angrily. "That bastard won't leave me alone. I've broken up with him over twenty times and he just won't go away!"

Ike scratched his head. "They're pretty good at changing the subject, aren't they?"

Thalia, hearing this, blushed bright red as she remembered what they had been talking about. Marth had sat up to bring air back into his lungs as he noticed.

"Oop, she remembers."

"You're hot too, Marth!"

In a desperate attempt to cover for her sister, Clio screeched: "Who wants dinner? At five in the morning?"

Ike smirked. "I know someone who's hungry…"

Clio pointed at him. "Shut up, or you won't get food! You know, if you keep saying stuff like this, it'll look like you have a crush on Thalia."

"Oh, are we talking about what we say about you guys?" Link, asked, standing up to go over to the girls. "Well, it's only fair to talk about what Ike said about you guys since we were talking about what you said about us." A fist suddenly came out of nowhere and punched Link across the face. A heart suddenly broke above Link's head.

Thalia sharply said. "I could have sworn I just saw a heart!"

"We're not talking about that," Ike ground out. Marth chuckled from his place.

"Yeah, you guys have hoes before bros, we have bros before hoes."

Thalia, now innately curious, walked over to Marth and wrapped an arm around his shoulders. "We should talk sometime, Marth."

Marth grinned politely, looking as if he was going to tell her, before condescendingly patting Thalia's head. "Sorry, I don't talk. Try Link!"

Thalia pouted before sulkily stomping back to Pit and Clio. "Hey, Pit. Will you talk?"

"No, they don't tell me as much. They think I'm "naïve" or something."

"You're an angel."

"Exactly," Pit smiled and turned to Clio. "I am a little hungry. Would you mind fixing something light?"

"Not at all!" Clio responded. "I'll get right on it!" Clio smiled and dusted herself off. As she passed Marth, she said. "By the way, we were just teasing, Marth. We know that you're not like that. And we're not like that either. We're just a little tipsy. We were celebrating our 18th birthday."

Thalia held up an empty wine bottle. "When your entire family except your batty grandmother forgets your birthday, you need to chill somehow, and since we're now of drinking age… more power to us."

Marth relaxed a bit, slightly mollified. He hated it when people assumed he was spoiled and arrogant just because he was a prince. Pit and Link were watching the match that the girls had set up and had just started when Link got a curious look on his face.

"Is this how you've always seen us?" the elfish-looking man questioned.

"Yep," Thalia said easily. "I'm surprised at how well you guys are taking this."

Ike chuckled. "You can say that we're pretty good at dealing with weird situations."

All of the guys laughed a bit at the not-so inside joke. Then the quiet piece that had settled over the group was broken as Clio yelled from inside the kitchen to be heard in the game room.

"LINK!"

"What?"

"LINK!" Clio yelled again, obviously not hearing the Hylian's response.

Link matched Clio's volume. "WHAT?"

"WHAT DO YOU GUYS WANT TO EAT?"

Link looked at the others, hoping for some input. None came. "Um… We don't know!"

"THALIA!"

"WHAT?"

"WHAT SHOULD I COOK?"

"MAKE THEM A PARFAIT!"

The girls fell into loud guffaws at the inside joke.

"FOR REAL, THALIA!"

"HAMSTEAK!"

"AND?"

"VEGETABLES?"

"ANY CARB?"

"Um… POTATOES… COUSCOUS… GRITS?"

"GOT IT!"

"I wonder where Ike went off to," Marth commented, as he watched Samus shoot a laser at Lucario. Lucario in turn used a force palm on Samus and forced her off screen. Link mumbled to himself.

"It's so weird to watch them play."

Thalia shrugged in response to Marth's question. "I don't know. I wonder where he went. I hope he doesn't get into any trouble."

Pit said soothingly. "I'm sure he'll be fine. He's a big boy, he can handle himself."

"I don't know… we have some pretty weird stuff in our house. And I mean _weird_."

_**Meanwhile, with Ike:**_

I roamed through the house, unconsciously noting where possible exits were located. It's not that I don't trust the sisters, but it's become a habit of mine to observe my surroundings thoroughly. I was dimly surprised by how big their house was. It was the size of a palace, but it was still pretty big. About the size of a wing of a castle. I came across a door with four locks that seemed a bit ajar. Naturally I was curious, but I decided not to open the door, deciding that four locks was not a good sign. Then I heard rustling and a deep growling from behind me. I instinctively swirled around, getting into a fighting stance, coming face to face with…


	3. Chapter 3

Ike turned around, Ragnell out and ready, only to be faced with… the two biggest dogs he had ever seen, along with a medium, long-haired black dog, and three others of varying sizes (all on the short side). There was a long moment where Ike and the dogs just stared at each other until Ike hesitantly relaxed his posture with a confused:

"Hello…?"

Then the small, fluffy brown dog, the smallest one, and the medium sized dog with floppy ears made eye contact and nodded at each other. Ike recoiled a bit. It reminded him startlingly of what he saw bullies do before attacking little children. He was confused, until it clicked and he froze.

"I'm… the little kid to them."

It seemed like the smallest snickered before letting out a sharp, slightly annoying, bark and then all hell broke loose. The biggest furry dog lunged forward, shoving Ike through the door with the four locks that he was standing in front of, knocking him into what seemed to be a display case. He watched with mild horror as an expensive looking vase with strange, glowing symbols inscribed all over the sides, teetered and tottered and fell…

…Into his waiting hands.

Ike let out a sound of relief before remembering the two massive dogs getting ready to pounce on him again. Ike jumped to his feet and narrowly dodged as one of the dogs charged him. Ike looked as if he was doing a weird dance as all of the dogs attacked him. He was balancing on one foot as he narrowly dodged once again as a small dog with brown spots trotted up and casually tripped him. Ike swore violently as he lost his grip on the vase and sent it flying backwards as he fell roughly onto his back.

"Fuck!" he swore. Ike flinched, waiting for the sound of shattering glass, only to hear a voice.

"Huh? What's this?"

"Link? What're you doing here?"

"Why are you on the floor?" Link asked curiously. Ike shifted his head, and glared, seeing Link holding the vase that had miraculously managed to land in his hands unscathed.

"Just tell me why you're here."

"Oh! The girls sent me to come tell you that the food is ready," Link told him before noticing the small swarm of dogs. "Did you make some friends?"

"Yes, I made friends with a bunch of angry dogs that are trying to kill me to consecrate our newfound friendship."

"…There's no need for sarcasm," Link grumbled. The dogs started advancing upon Ike, and now Link, before Link confidently looked down at them and said, "Whoa, dogs. There's no need for violence here. We're your masters' guests."

The dogs instantly stopped and seemed to smile at him, wagging their tales. Ike stared for a moment before angrily exclaiming: "You've got to be fucking kidding me! You talk to dogs?!"

Link shrugged. "Ever since I was a wolf that one time, I can talk to any animal."

Ike was quiet. "That's actually pretty cool."

"I know right!" Link paused, finally acknowledging the vase in his hands. "So what's with this pottery?"

Ike shrugged as he stood up from the ground, dusting himself off. "I don't know, but it looks expensive."

Link got a greedy glint to his eyes. "Ya think it has lots of rupees in it? Maybe a 1000 rupees?"

Ike stared. "Don't you dare! Do you _know _what I went through to save that?"

"I've got the Triforce of Courage, bitch. I can break what I want."

Ike just looked at Link for a long moment. "I'm pretty sure that's what idiots say when they're about to do something really stupid." Link only shrugged, raising the vase, pausing when he heard a shrill bark –this one coming from the small, fluffy brown one.

"What was that?" Link asked it. "Oh, I shouldn't break this? There isn't money inside? How do you know?" The dog seemed to give him a look and Ike rolled his eyes. "Why does everybody keep looking at me that way?"

"Because you're stupid."

The dog barked a couple of times. "Oh. Because you can look inside. Right… I knew that."

"Can you just put it back on the case? You're making me nervous." Ike gestured towards the display case. A pretty puppy with long dark brown fur and light blue eyes wandered into the room. It was followed by two others that had to be its siblings. While Link was putting the vase away, Ike leaned over to pet it.

"Hey, little guy. Did we wake you guys up?" he said with a smile. The dogs wagged their tails and he heard a voice from the doorway.

"Awwww! That's adorable! They like you!"

Ike looked up to see Thalia standing in the doorway. Ike sighed. "Yeah. I get along great with _all _of them." Thalia looked over at the other dogs and caught his meaning.

"Oh… they must have thought you were an intruder."

"Or your dogs just have a taste for human flesh," Ike deadpanned. "They bit me enough times."

Thalia snickered. "Sorry about that."

Ike shrugged. "No harm, no foul. I've suffered worse than that. I was going easy on them."

"That's not what it looked like to me," Link chimed in a singsong voice.

"Shut up Pot-Breaker."

"Pot-Breaker?" Thalia suddenly gasped. "You did _not_ touch the vase. Why wasn't this door locked?"

Ike shrugged. "Don't look at me. I've never learned lock-picking."

Link smirked. "Yeah, like the genius he is, he just breaks through the doors."

Ike glared at Link for a moment. "But no, the door wasn't locked."

"Why did you go in? I thought you'd be smart enough to know that four locks is bad news," Thalia said in a biting tone.

"It was not my fault! I was trying not to stab your dogs and that one," he pointed to the large fluffy one, "tackled me through the door."

"Oh, you mean Pope? The St. Bernard? He's a little overenthusiastic."

"I'll say!" Link exclaimed, before being momentarily distracted by all the dogs that wanted him to pet them.

"So, what's with these dogs?" Ike asked.

"Well, they're our guard dogs."

"Then why didn't they smell your scent on me?"

"That sounds dirty," Link said with a grin.

"Cardinal, attack mode," Thalia said in a monotone. The Great Dane that had previously attacked Ike, jumped Link. Ike and Thalia ignored Link's screams.

"The three little ones with the most power are extreme bullies. They must have seen you as an easy target. Regina, the Pomeranian, likes big dicks the most," and then Thalia gave an evil grin. "If ya know what I mean."

Ike blushed faintly. Link's jaw dropped and he dropped the puppy he was holding. "You can be perverted but I can't?!" It squealed and Link hastily said, "Sorry! Sorry!"

"Otto!" Thalia screeched, "Be careful, Link!"

Ike grumbled a bit. "Please. You wouldn't know a big dick if you saw one."

Thalia smirked. "You'd be surprised." She wiggled her eyebrows suggestively.

"Am I interrupting something?" Clio asked mischievously, poking her head over Thalia's shoulder to grin. She had come in at the perfect moment.

"I'm not sure myself," Link chimed. "I was just thinking about leaving to give them some time to… release all that tension."

"Well, we have a room upstairs that no one uses. We'll leave them there to work out their issues while we eat dinner," Clio said, smirking at Thalia who was starting to blush pretty bad. Clio noticed this. "Ike, you seem to have this weird effect on her."

"I think she brings it onto herself."

"Well, if I'm not mistaken," Link began, "back in the Smash Quarters, _you_ said that -."

Once again, Ike somehow managed to appear instantaneously behind Link to smack his head into the ground. Another heart broke over Link's cranium. Ike finished, supposedly, the statement.

"Thalia sounds like a funny person. Thanks for bringing that up, Link. So what was that about dinner, Clio?"

Both girls had incredibly curious expressions on their faces, as did the dogs. They knew Ike was lying because he's too honest for it, but the girls decided that they probably wouldn't get it out of him anytime soon.

"Well, we found some stuff in the fridge to eat with the meat, and it's getting cold, so let's head to the dining hall," Clio said.

"Dining hall?" Ike questioned, a little taken aback.

"It's just a large… dining room that's… rectangular," Thalia uttered awkwardly, unsure about how to explain it. She didn't want to tell them why she and Clio had a dining hall, not just a room. She didn't want them to treat her and her sister any differently. "It's nothing special."

Ike raised an eyebrow. Clio chimed in. "Anyways, we should head down now."

The four, followed by the dogs and puppies, walked through the large, hallways until they reached an elegant staircase, going down at a shallow slope to the main floor. It came off from two routes, one being where the group was coming from, the other going off to a place neither Link nor Ike had been to before. The stairs were lined with black railings with beautiful, curling patterns and the steps were covered in golden flecks.

"You guys must be wealthy," Ike stated, staring at the stairs. Clio and Thalia shrugged.

"We get by," they answered together, having come to the same, unspoken consensus. They were tired of being called "Harkona" (Old Norse for "Lady") by everyone and wanted to just be "Thalia and Clio." It's not that they weren't grateful for the nice house and political position; it was just that they wanted to make real friends with the guys. So far, all of their friends were political. Most of them were great people, but it was hard and looked down upon for them to make friends with those in a lower social class.

Link and Ike exchanged glances. While they were curious as to what the twins were hiding, they knew form social cues that the girls didn't want to talk about it.

"Well," Clio began, opening the double doors in front of them. "This is our dining hall."

The boys blinked in surprise and scanned the large room.

"You use this for just the two of you?" Link asked in confusion. The girls nodded, slightly abashed.

Marth shrugged from his spot at the table. "It's not unusual to me."

"We have a big family," the girls made an excuse off the top of their head. "They pop in a lot." While the comment was true, it wasn't the reason for the large dining hall.

The boys scanned the room thoughtfully. Each noted a different feature; Link was still distracted by the large table and the maybe twenty peach colored seats surrounding it, Marth examined the three crystal chandeliers hanging over the table providing a good amount of light, and Ike noted the buffed silver and immaculately clean windows. Pit cocked his head to the side thoughtfully, also seated at the table.

"Do you guys clean this all yourself? Where did you get the flowers? They all look fresh!"

The twins actually didn't know the answer to the second question and slightly balked at the first. They shared a look, trying to figure out what to say when luckily for them, Marth saved them.

He chuckled. "Well, they probably picked the flowers from the garden outside. I saw it through the window over there." He motioned toward the bay window overlooking their garden.

Link shook his head in amazement. "You guys have one _large _house."

The girls laughed awkwardly. "Yeah we do; it's been in the family for a long time."

Ike gave them a serious glance. "Been in the family how? Was it passed down or something?"

The girls seemed to startle, noticing this was a loaded question before shrugging noncommittally. "Yeah, our family has lived here for a long time. It was our dad's house before ours and his father's before him, so on and so forth."

Marth looked around. "Where is your father? Isn't it improper to leave his daughters alone in their home without an escort?"

The twins looked at each other. "It's different here," Thalia told him. Clio nodded.

"We're of legal age to live on our own. And besides, he's working right now. He's out of the country."

"What does your dad do?" Pit pressed curiously.

"He's an officer in the military," Thalia chuckled awkwardly. "Nothing special." The last part was a lie, but the guys couldn't tell.

"So that's why you have such a big house!" Pit exclaimed, looking around. "It's really nice!"

"Indeed!" Marth agreed. "I find it hard to believe that you two just live here by yourself, even if you're of legal age and your dad works. What about your mother? Any siblings? Fiancés?"

The girls gently guided the guys to seats at the table and brought out the previously prepared food they had found in the fridge, before answering and taking seats themselves.

"Well, we have two siblings; an older brother and an older sister. The brother is the eldest," Clio began.

"He's twenty-three," Thalia interjected. "He's away right now, but he should be coming home to live with us soon. He's been helping our dad."

Ike swallowed his food before asking curiously. "Do you think your brother will be okay with us staying here?"

Link cut in. "We haven't even established if we're allowed to live here."

"Personally," Marth began, "I feel as if it's slightly improper for two young women to be surrounded by young, single men that can easily take advantage of them."

The twins stared at him for a long, long moment. "Well then, Marth. We'll make sure that we aren't alone with you if that's what you're thinking! Also, we can see how much you trust your friends!"

Marth fidgeted uncomfortably. "It's just –You –I-I mean – I won't."

Pit cut in. "I think he's just worried about how it would look to other people."

"I think they know that," Ike snickered. "We're sort of heroes from a video game."

The girls grinned in response to this. "Yeah, we're just messing with you. I'm sure you'll get along great with our brother and we'll come up with some reason for you to stay with us."

Link smiled at them gratefully. "Thank you!"

Thalia snickered. "I've always wanted sexy bodyguards."

"We _did _fire –I mean, "dismiss" –those other guards," Clio chimed. "How about it guys? You wanna be our new protectors?"

"Are you finally going to tell us who exactly it is we're protecting?" Ike asked, taking another bite of food. Marth nodded. "You don't seem to like our questions. Why do you need bodyguards?" Pit cut in before anyone else could say anything.

"This is really good!"

The girls raised an eyebrow at how much food the guys were eating. Thalia said in an awed voice. "You eat a lot!"

Pit replied cheerfully, "Well we don't have to eat in heaven or the game world. This is a new feeling"

Marth burst out angrily, surprising them all. "STOP CHANGING THE SUBJECT!"

The twins and Pit looked abashed. "Fine… Here it is." Clio sighed.

Thalia started. "Our dad is Regent to the King, as well as the Grand Duke and the head of our entire military."

Marth's jaw dropped. "That's a lot of power. Almost equal to the King."

Clio chuckled mirthlessly. "Trust me, we're aware. He's pretty damn awesome at what he does though. See, we live in Fyrigmark."

"It's an island off the coast of another country called Portugal, and it's slightly above the continent of Africa," Thalia told. When they gave her incomprehensive looks.

"We'll show you what we mean in a second. We have a map somewhere," Clio cut in.

"Fyrigmark has five specific regions which were originally settled by five different civilizations. Our ancestors were Norse and were one of the first Nordics to inhabit another land outside of Scandinavia. We're Solbergs which is kind of a big deal here, since we were the original family that helped settle what is now Fyrigmark. We lead one region. But before the Norse, there was already a group of Natives here. That's our mother's people. She's like a princess to the region that the natives now inhabit. The other three regions are French, English, and Roman. As you've probably already figured out, each region has a sort of political leader, or governor. Our dad is the governor of our specific region, which is called Komaeldr. Our mother is the daughter of the leader of her region, which is called Estavelalma. Now, since her parents are dead, her younger brother is the Governor. But all five regions are united under our King, King Titus Valerius-Maximus. He's the Roman Governor and also the King."

"How can he be both?" Marth asked.

"Well, the Roman Governor is always the King as well. It's been that way ever since this nation was originally founded," Clio told him.

"If there are so many important seats of power, how does anything get accomplished? How is there peace? Wouldn't there be rivalries and disputes between the leaders?" Ike questioned with bafflement.

Link cut in. "I think I get what they mean. Each Governor helps decide things for their specific region to fit the needs of their region, right?"

The girls nodded.

Link continued. "The King arranges things that impact the entire nation."

"Oooooh!" Pit exclaimed in understanding. "I see what you mean. It's like a pantheon. There's one god who rules them all, but the other gods take care of the smaller duties that need specific attention."

"Right!" the girls said with a grin. They were surprised with how easy that was. Marth froze.

"If you're like princesses, then why are you here alone?!"

"Well, we got back from school today, and we already said our brother was coming home," Thalia said.

"Besides, we're already of age," Clio continued. "This means that we're allowed to live alone and be adults. But, since we're nobles, we still have to perform the duties of our class and make our family stay in favor of the populace.."

"That's why we have-er-had bodyguards," Thalia muttered before cheerfully saying: "Now we have new, better ones!"

"Favor with the populace? Isn't this a hereditary thing?" Ike asked.

"Being Regent is not. It doesn't automatically belong to anyone. Regent is a position chosen by both the King and the people," Thalia explained. She was thoughtful for a moment before saying: "Mostly the King. There's a competition every two years that decides the next Regent. It's kind of like a talent show where each of the royal families competes to see which one gains the public's favor. Actually, it's this year, at the end of the summer."

"I guess you could say that if the King went insane and jacked up the country, the Regent would come in and calm things down. He also serves as an advisor. Because that's an important role, a lot of people want to have there say in the deliberations." Clio told them. "We're both really excited about the showcase. It's always fun, even if our family doesn't end up getting Regent again. Although, between us, we most likely going to get it. The biggest competition is usually the English region, but they have to step it up to stand a chance at Regent."

Thalia chuckled. "Anyhow, if it makes you feel better Marth, we do have help and the butler that makes sure we keep up with all of our duties is on his way over here."

"When should he arrive?" Marth asked, slightly worried about how the butler would take to having young men in the same house as two important teenage girls.

They looked at each other and shrugged. "Early this morning, something like that."

The guys all shared glances before continuing to eat. The twin sisters looked at each other and sighed, walking through the double doors and sitting on their large, plush couch in their game room. Clio propped her legs up on a footrest and Thalia laid her legs over Clio's thighs. They were exhausted, crashing from their adrenaline high, and needing a breather.

"Wanna see if it'll work on Melee?" Thalia questioned Clio.

"Yeah! They don't have a Subspace, so let's see if normal brawls will work," Clio questioned, pushing a button and making the game go into the Wii. Clio then set up a brawl, one stock, Roy versus Mario. After a bit, Roy was knocked off the screen. The twins looked behind them, waiting to see if Roy would enter, but he didn't. Thalia sighed.

"That sucks. Does this mean we can't bring anymore out? Or is it just because it's a GameCube game?"

Clio shrugged. "I don't know. I hope we can though. Wouldn't it be great if we could bring out Samus and Pikachu?"

"Or Bowser and Peach?"

"Or Meta Knight and Kirby?"

"Or Lucario?" The girls giggled happily, excited but also disappointed. How could they get them out? Would it even work again? Their data was gone in the Subspace. They could try the whole story over again, but what if they brought in characters they didn't want? They sighed and Thalia shifted her weight, resting her head on the soft armrest of the couch. Clio grinned.

"At least we have four badass and hot bodyguards!"

"Gerard's gonna be pissed," Thalia said simply, referring to their old butler. Clio let out a sardonic chuckle.

"I think that's an understatement."

* * *

_**Nógrvættfang, Komaeldr, Fyrigmark**_

* * *

A sudden, loud bang of thunder rippled through the night sky as the man walked out of the shop, a bag in hand. He walked slowly, his brown cane with an ornate handle hitting the pavement slowly as a large, stroke of lightning lit up the sky. The wind blew the long tails of his coat out behind him as he unlocked his white Cadillac and stepped inside, turning on the engine and the radio. He first switched the channel to a news station.

"_We have an exclusive statement released from Governor Woodward of Varyland on his campaign for the title of Regent. He says –."_

"What trivial news," said the man as he changed the channel. "It doesn't matter what that pompous twit says. He doesn't stand a fighting chance at usurping Komaeldr. We've been Regent for 49 terms. One more term, and we'll have been in power for a century."

He disinterestedly tried to listen to the local news, but they were only talking about the early increase in foreign interest for this year's _Kykrfeigr Ragnarok. _

He rolled his eyes. "Young people always get so riled up for those. I find them dreadfully dull. Once you see one, you've seen them all. I bet Grand Duchess Violante is already coming up with ways to make it more interesting for locals."

He continued to flip, not hearing anything of import, before turning on a CD.

_Oh Death_

_Oh Death_

_Oh Death_

_Won't you spare me over another year?_

The music picked up and he smiled. He had burned a CD of songs that made him feel epic. And he doesn't use the word epic easily. He was an epic guy in general, but even he needed a theme, and well, he always believed this song to be the most fitting.

_But what is this that I can't see, _

_With ice cold hands taking hold of me?_

_When God is gone and the Devil takes hold,_

_Who'll have mercy on your soul?_

The thunder boomed above him, making a terribly fortunate dramatic effect. It almost made the man chuckle.

_Oh Death_

_No wealth, no ruin, no silver, no gold_

_Nothing satisfies me but your soul_

At this point, an even larger crack of lightning ripped open the sky, before buckets of rain began to pound down on the man as he drove down the dark, lonely road to the mountains. He couldn't wait to see his girls. He would never tell anyone this, but he loved them like daughters and would die before letting anything happen to them.

_Oh Death_

_Well I am Death._

_None can excel._

_I'll open the door to Heaven or Hell._

He suddenly saw a flash of red plummet towards the ground so quickly he couldn't even react before that something entered the man's headlights. _Bam!_ His car came to a screeching halt. He had just run someone over.

_Oh Death_

_Oh Death_

_My name is Death_

_And the end is here._

The man jumped out of his car, not bothering to turn off the engine as he hobbled out into the rain, his cane almost slipping on the wet pavement. The young man he had hit sat up blearily, rubbing his eyes. The man raised an imperious eyebrow at the boy's clothing as he reached a hand out to help him up. As soon as the boy was off the ground, the man shifted the silver banded ring on his finger.

"Thanks. Uh... Who are you?" the boy asked, looking around, confused.

"I should be asking you that question," the man responded. "Are you alright?"

"My name is Roy and I feel okay. A little stiff in my neck, but I'm sure that'll pass," Roy answered, rubbing the back of his neck.

The older man blinked in faint surprise that the youth in front of him survived being hit by a car. "I am Gerard," the man informed Roy. "Gerard Banamaðr."

"Um, where am I, Sir Banamaðr?"

"Why, you are on the outskirts Nógrvættfang, Komaeldr, Fyrigmark."

Roy looked lost. "Excuse me?"

"Fyrigmark. Now, what I would like to know, is why you _fell _from the _sky_," he ignored Roy's confused look. Must be foreign. Nógrvættfang wasn't the most well-known city, only being a small town near the base of the mountains whose only claim to fame were extremely delicious burgers –which Gerard happened to have gotten at the shop he had stopped at previously. Luckily, he had bought two. One for himself, and the other for himself.

"I don't really know myself."

"I'd also like to know why you are wearing armor that clearly dates to the mid-1300s in England –AD of course."

"I'm sorry, Sir, but I'm not sure what England is," Roy told him, only to meet a condescending look. "Um, this is probably going to sound crazy, but do you mean to tell me that I'm in the real world?"

"Explain yourself, young man."

"Well, I don't know if you'll believe me."

"You fell from the sky and lived. I'll believe it. Of course, before you begin your story, we will go back into my car. I am tired of this bloody rain soaking my tailcoat. I just got it from the cleaners."

The two went back to Gerard's Cadillac. Roy slightly hesitated at the sight of it, but, under Gerard's heavy and impatient stare, Roy got into the vehicle.

"I'm from a different world," Roy began, glancing sheepishly over at Gerard. "Honestly, I don't know what this "car" thing is and I don't know why I fell from the sky or why you're wearing such weird clothing. The last thing that I remember is brawling against a plumber named Mario and getting knocked off screen."

"Mario?" Gerard questioned. "Isn't that a game character? I believe that the girls "hate on him" often. Doesn't he have to save a princess from an evil turtle or something?"

"Yeah! So you know of games. Anyways, I'm a video game character too. I'm originally from a game called Fire Emblem, although I was brought here from a game called Super Smash Bros Melee."

"Ah, yes," Gerard said, "I remember when I bought that game for the girls!"

"So you believe me?"

Gerard repeated dully, "You fell out of the sky."

Roy looked out the window. "Where are we going?"

"To the girls' house, of course. I'm sure they'd be glad to let you stay with them. Of course, we'd have to give you a reason to live with the girls after all."

"Who are the girls?" Roy asked, curious.

Gerard gave him another "are you stupid" look, before sighing. "I guess I can't blame you for not knowing who they are, given that you are from a different world. However, your insolence stops now. The girls are the daughters of the prestigious Solberg household. They are the children of Grand Duke and Regent Regner Solberg, as well as the Duchess Violante. They have inherited wealth and power from both their Mother's and Father's family lines."

"I-I see," Roy said. He decided it would be a bad idea to point out that until just now, Gerard had only referred to the daughters as "the girls." He also didn't know why he got into the car, he was just afraid of what would happen if he didn't get in the car.

"I'd hate to intrude in their home."

"Oh, don't worry. You are a good fighter, yes? Strong, good natured, noble?"

"Yes…? Why?"

"Well, it just so happens that we are in need of a new bodyguard. One of the previous ones was dismissed after abandoning his post. I'm sure that you will do nicely and that the girls will be happy to have you." (He was still unaware that the girls had dismissed ALL of the previous bodyguards, not just the one.)

"Thank you, sir," Roy said, slightly surprised. Looks can be deceiving. Gerard is turning out to be a nice old man. Roy had already found a temporary home, so soon after coming into this world. "If you don't mind me asking, what are you to the girls?"

"I am their butler, of course," he said proudly. "My family has served the Solbergs since they traveled here from Scandinavia centuries ago."

"Wow, that's amazing, sir," Roy commented. Gerard hummed in appreciation.

"You must be hungry."

"Honestly, I can't remember the last time I've been hungry. Is it a gnawing pain in your stomach?"

"Here, have a burger," Gerard pulled a burger out of the bag sitting on the backseat. "It seems odd, but just eat it like a sandwich."

Roy lifted it to his mouth when Gerard reached a hand and smacked him over the back of the head.

"What was that for?" Roy complained, rubbing his now sore head.

"Don't eat it with the wrapper still on, you dolt," Gerard said, rolling his eyes. "You take the paper off of the burger."

"Oh, okay," Roy responded, tearing the paper off.

"Now then. It seems I have a lot to teach you about our world before we get to the girls' house. I might as well start your impromptu education with some good music." With that, Gerard turned on his CD, again, starting it from the beginning.

_Oh Death…_

"First off, you will address them as Harkona Thalia and Harkona Clio."

_Oh Death…_

"Harkona?"

_Oh Death…_

"It's Norse for Lady. Now, the people of Komaeldr are descendants of the proud Norse culture…"

_My name is Death_

_And the end is…_

* * *

_**Authors' Note:**_

* * *

_**The end is… nowhere in sight, dear readers. This story is going to be dreadfully long. It'll be fun. But dreadfully long. It's gonna be a fun mix of crack, romance, general shenanigans, and a deep, thrilling plot that we have no idea how we came up with. So yeah, we basically made up a very complex and interesting country just for this story. We got so wrapped up in writing about this country, that when we had a project in school, our teacher let us write about Fyrigmark and be partners. We were the only ones who wrote a fifty slide power point and made a video game for it. We literally made a video game, guys. And to think, one of us didn't even want to make a new country. *Elodie gives a pointed look to Eloise* *Eloise returns the stare* To think that one person didn't want to confuse the readers by making a new country. *Elodie shrugs* Well, the country is here, and dang this was a hard chapter to spit out. We had to spend four all-nighters writing this. We fixed a lot, and changed a lot, and we started multiple times. But we think we've finally got it right. *Eloise mumbles* We're not going to mention how many times we got distracted *Elodie sighs* It's not like we're procrastinators or anything… It'll be a little harder to get chapters out during the school year, but we think we'll be able to keep up with it pretty well. **_

_**Anyways, stay tuned for the next installment of Through the Glass. **_

_**Preview:**_

_**Gerard meets the guys, shopping is hard everyone, and more experiments are done with the poor, poor Wii. Pity the Wii. Pity it. **_


	4. Chapter 4

_**Mærrsjǫt, Komaeldr, Fyrigmark**_

"That was delicious," Pit exclaimed cheerfully as he licked the last bits of food off his fingers. "Not as good as Kirby's cake though."

"So _you're _the reason why Kirby always accuses me of stealing his shortcake," Ike glared at the angel who laughed awkwardly, looking at Link and Marth for an out. An angry Ike was not a happy Ike.

Marth rolled his eyes before chiming in. "I personally love Peach's tea."

"My favorite food is hearts!" Link said, smiling and laughing.

Pit was quiet. "Do you think they'll notice that we're gone?"

Link thought for a moment before saying, "They'll definitely notice that their asses aren't getting kicked into next week by the best swordsmen in the world. And an angel," he added as an afterthought, remembering that Pit wasn't a swordsmen like the rest of them.

"I don't know," Marth said hesitantly. "We might not even exist as video game characters anymore. What if they don't remember us?"

Ike sighed. "I'm just glad we're not in a constant war zone. I'm sure that if we ever end up getting sent back to Nintendoland they'll remember us. If not, we don't really need to worry about it."

Pit nodded. "I'm gonna find the girls and ask what they want me to do with the plates." The others nodded and Pit walked out, beginning to wander the mansion. The sheer beauty of the architecture would have stunned Pit if he hadn't been an angel. Looking around at the magnificent drapery, the stunning indoor balcony and the high ceilings with phenomenal chandeliers, he had no doubt that these girls were royalty.

Marth finished his plate and set down his fork, a thoughtful expression settled on his face. Ike noticed this and said: "Copper for your thoughts?"

The prince looked up. "Hm? Oh. I was just thinking that the girls are a lot like I imagined –minus the royalty part."

"How so?" Link questioned. "What did you expect?"

"Talkative, lively, funny, friendly, girls who can be a bit, erm… How can I put this nicely…?"

Link and Ike said at the same time: "Weird?"

"Well, that's not nicely, but yes," Marth chuckled.

"I expected them to be uglier!" Link laughed. Marth facepalmed. Ike nodded, as if agreeing.

"Not you too!" Marth exclaimed. "I thought they would be pretty, judging by their voices."

Ike murmured. "It's not that I thought they'd be ugly, just… not pretty. Average. Like the generic girl model in video games."

Marth rolled his eyes. "Well other than being unattractive, what did you two think they would be like?"

Link chuckled. "Hard to keep up with? Perverted?"

Ike interjected. "They seem to be both of those adjectives so far. I mean, I'm still having trouble with this whole "Fyrigmark" deal. Also, when they were explaining it, they used different countries that I've never heard of."

Marth thoughtfully replied. "I guess they're more tired than we are. They seemed to be losing steam as they explained Fyrigmark anyways. Hugging us to death seemed to tire them out."

Link shrugged. "I don't know what you're talking about, Ike. I understood it perfectly. Maybe you're just dumb."

"Shut up, Mister I've-Never-Looked-Inside-A -Pot."

"Let it go!" Link cried out, offended. "A guy messes up a few times and almost breaks a priceless looking vase and what does he get? Ridicule from a blue-haired idiot!"

"You did what?" Marth asked, unenthused. While Marth chastised Link about touching things that weren't his, Ike noticed that the dogs had dispersed throughout the house, excluding one of the beautiful puppies with bright blue eyes which was sitting at his feet. Ike leaned down and asked him in a quiet voice:

"Hey, boy, do you want to sit on my lap?" The puppy wagged his tail happily and seemed to nod so Ike picked him up and scratched him behind the ears. "What's your name?" Ike questioned. Marth noticed the puppy and was momentarily distracted from his lecture. Link took the time to tell Ike:

"He says his name is Destiel."

"You can speak to dogs?" Marth asked, baffled. Ike shrugged.

"Apparently he has been able to speak to all animals since he was a wolf in _Twilight Princess_. I just found out earlier."

Link just shrugged. "What were we talking about?"

"Expectations and reality," Ike answered, petting the puppy. He smiled at the other guys. "I'll admit they're overall really nice. Nicer than I had expected." Marth sighed, placing his face in his hand dejectedly.

"Do you think we'll ever go back?"

Ike smiled. "Honestly, I'm happy we're probably not going back there. I'll miss everyone, but I feel like I've lived the same story a thousand times."

"I agree!" Link exclaimed enthusiastically. "This is a totally new experience for us!"

"Yeah," Ike agreed. "No war, new people, food… sleep."

Marth joined in the excitement. "I do admit that sleep sounds nice, but I'll be missing my kingdom and sister." While in the Smash Quarters, the characters were rarely ever able to sleep because there were people playing their game all around the world.

Ike shrugged. "It's not like you saw them much while in Smash anyways."

Marth nodded slightly dejected. These past few years, Marth had been unable to spend time with his sister. "I hope that Elice will continue doing a good job in my absence."

Link looked to where Pit left. "I wonder if he found the girls yet."

Pit had indeed found the twins upstairs in the game room. Unfortunately for him, they were fast asleep, sprawled out on the couch together with the Wii remotes dangling from their wrists. He scratched his head. "Should I wake them up? Maybe we should all just find a place to sleep on our own."

The girls, having heard Pit walk in, blearily lifted their heads. "Sorry, Pit. We're awake."

"I apologize for waking you, but do you think you could tell us where we could sleep and what to do with the dirty dishes? We'd hate to ask any more of you."

Thalia shrugged. "Don't worry about it. You can just crash in here with us. Just tell the guys to find spots on the random furniture in here. We have some pillows and blankets scattered about. And you can just leave the plates on the table, we'll deal with those in the morning."

Clio nodded in agreement. "Yeah, we'll find you beds once our butler gets here. Stack the plates though, that way we can clean them easier. Until then though, we're going to sleep. We drove for hours to get home from the Academy we went to for school."

"Drove? School?" Pit cocked his head.

"We'll tell you tomorrow," they both said, shaking their heads and laying back down. "Night… er, morning!"

Pit smiled gratefully. "Thank you, I'll tell them to come up here." He wandered back downstairs to the dining hall and relayed the twins' message to the guys. They all trailed upstairs and almost laughed at the sleeping position the girls were in, before finding spots of their own around the room.

_**The Front of the Solberg Residence,**_ _**Mærrsjǫt, Komaeldr, Fyrigmark**_

Gerard hobbled down the steep dip leading to the side servants' entrance on the mansion. The entrance led to a small, compact staircase which went to the kitchen.

"Come along, Roy!"

"Coming, sir!" Roy called back, trailing after Gerard with what appeared to be luggage. Gerard inserted a key into the keyhole on the secret door and opened it, leading Roy into the large, spacious kitchen. "Do you smell smoke, Gerard?"

"Oh dear! I knew we shouldn't have stopped in Viðtaka for a pizza on the way here. I think they're trying to cook!"

_**(Pronunciation Note: the "ð" letter is called the eth, and is an Old Norse/Old English/Icelandic letter that makes the "th" sound. Therefore, Viðtaka is pronounced Vi-eth-taka. Gerard's last name, Banamaðor is pronounced Bana-ma-eth-or.)**_

"Who? Harkonas Clio and Thalia?"

_**(Language Note: We're using the word "Harkona" because Elodie couldn't find the Old Norse word for Lady. We just decided to use the Icelandic word instead since Icelandic is very similar to Old Norse.)**_

"Indeed," Gerard nodded gravely. He pointed to a small hallway branching off from the entrance. "Place my luggage in the last room on the right. I'll inform the girls of your arrival and help them cook."

Roy nodded and walked off. Gerard padded down to where he smelled the smoke and was greeted with hell. Smoke was in the air, he saw burnt bacon in the trash can as well as a few destroyed spatulas, an egg broken on the ground, a vast assortment of dirty dishes, and flour floated about, coating every surface. In the middle of the chaos, there were the two girls, gleefully pouring pancake batter on a large skillet, a pile of slightly burnt pancakes already on the counter. The girls too, were covered in flour. Gerard stared at the mess for a long moment before shaking his head. He could only assume that they'd gotten into another flour fight.

"Oh! The biscuits are done! Take over the pancakes for me, Thalia," Clio called to her sister, opening the oven. Thalia moved to the skillet and began ladling the pancakes into the pan.

"Sure thing," Thalia responded. "Just keep an eye on the eggs."

"Got it!" Clio gasped. "The biscuits came out great! And the eggs look amazing!"

"The biscuits do look amazing! They're all fluffy and stuff!" Thalia exclaimed, looking at the trays. "I'm glad all three batches came out alright."

Gerard felt himself sag a bit. "You girls haven't changed at all in your past year at the Academy. Although, to be completely honest, I didn't expect you to make any vast improvements in your behavior."

As one, the girls turned around with identical expressions of surprise and joy as they saw their favorite old man. "Gerard! You're back!" they exclaimed and ran to give him a hug. Gerard cringed slightly as the flour on their bodies rubbed off on his crisp, clean black tailcoat, but he accepted the hugs anyways, happy with the greeting. Though he'd never verbally express it, he had missed his girls. They were like the daughters he'd never had.

"I take back what I said," he told him, looking at them. "Your beauty makes all the other nobles pale in feeble comparison –even when you're covered in flour."

The twins laughed mirthfully. "Thanks, Gerard. It's good to see you too."

The trio heard a voice call out: "Gerard, did you find the girls?"

"Who's that?" Clio asked Gerard, curiously.

"I feel like I've heard the voice before," Thalia mused. Gerard smiled.

"I found you a new bodyguard. I guess you could say I… _ran_ into him. His name is Roy."

"Wait… You mean…"

Just then, the red-headed warrior walked into the kitchen. He smiled at the girls and dropped into a low bow. "It's nice to meet you, Harkonas Thalia and Clio." He then noticed the flour and laughed as he straightened out, slightly confused as to why the Harkonas didn't curtsey back. "It looks like a blizzard hit the place."

And in response, the girls screamed bloody murder. Roy jumped back confused at their sudden exclamation.

"What's wrong?!" Gerard yelled in shock, flabbergasted by this response.

"Do you know what this means, Gerard?!" Clio screeched at the top of her lungs.

"No!" Gerard answered, taken aback as Clio grabbed him by the lapels and shook him.

"We brought him here!" Thalia exclaimed, glomping a very confused Roy in a surprise hug attack.

"How?" Gerard asked in bafflement, prying Clio's hands from his clothing. Clio then joined in the hug attack.

"WHAT'S GOING ON?" Ike yelled and burst through the door, Ragnell on fire, followed by the other three.

"I HAVE A BOMB!" Link screamed, looking frantically in all directions.

"Falchion shall reap you, trespassers!"

"The fight is on!"

Gerard slowly appraised the guys while the guys slowly appraised the odd scene in front of them.

"Is that Roy?" Link questioned in shock, absentmindedly putting out his bomb.

"Why are you covered in flour?" Ike asked in a scathing tone, lowering Ragnell.

"Is that food?" the teenage boy already shining through within Pit.

"Hello, sir," Marth, always the diplomat spoke to Gerard, "I presume you're the butler?"

Gerard stared for a long moment. "Girls, explain yourself or so help me Odin Roy will beat them to death with my cane!"

"I will?" Roy questioned, but at Gerard's quick and deadly glance, he thought better of protesting.

The girls released Roy and sighed. "First off, hello Roy it's nice to meet you! Second off, Gerard, it's not what you think!"

"And what do I think?" Gerard asked scornfully.

Clio cringed a bit. "I think we all know what you think…"

Thalia tried to make the situation better. "They're our new bodyguards; we hired them the other day."

"Did Roy tell you where he's from?" Clio questioned. Gerard nodded.

"He fell out of the sky and I hit him with my car, and somehow still managed to live, so I believed him when he told me."

"Well these guys are too," Thalia pointed to them and they all waved nervously. If he could cow Roy like that, they didn't want to know what he was capable of when angered.

"Gerard, these are the ones I've told you about," Roy said with a smile and gestured to Link, "This is Link."

Link put out a hand, "It's nice to meet you, sir."

"Likewise. My name is Gerard Banamaðr."

Link's widened. "As in… "Slayer of Mankind?""

"Coincidence," Gerard said with a smirk. "It's in my blood. You know Norse?"

"It turns out Hylian's similar. That's the language where I'm from."

"Interesting. And the rest are…?"

Marth came forward first. "I am Prince Marth of Altea. Pleased to make your acquaintance."

"The pleasure is mine," Gerard answered, somehow managing not to look pleased.

"My name's Pit, I'm an angel of Palutena."

"An angel, hm?" Gerard nodded, accepting the hand that Pit offered. "And you?" he turned to Ike.

"My name is Ike, Commander of the Greil Mercenaries. It's nice to meet you, sir. The twins spoke fondly of you."

Gerard's nose crinkled. "Yes, yes, I've heard much about you, _Ike_. I've heard much about all of you, but Ike's description stood out among the rest."

Ike frowned. "I assume it wasn't very good."

Roy got an evil look on his face. "I only told him the truth, Ike."

Link laughed. "Oh yeah, the _truth_. It's nice to see you, Roy."

"Long time no talk!" Roy answered, going for a man-hug. Link returned the gesture.

"Hello, Roy."

"Marth! How's life?" Roy asked the Prince.

"It's a wild ride, Roy," Marth answered with a smile, also getting a bro-hug. Pit and Ike were ignored. Pit looked up at Ike.

"I can understand why he hates you, but I didn't replace anyone." Ike shrugged.

"Don't ask me. I think it's a little ridiculous personally."

The twins sidled over to Ike and Pit. "Is he mad about the fact he was kicked out of Brawl," Thalia asked.

Ike nodded. "Yep. He thinks I stole his spot on purpose and that I was jealous of all his fame. Not my fault my game was playable in America."

Pit snickered. "He's also mad that he was demoted to sticker and he wasn't even an assist trophy."

Clio winced sympathetically. "That would hurt."

Ike looked up. "I think he's also a little mad at Isaac since Isaac got to be an assist trophy when he wasn't even in Melee."

Gerard walked over to where Thalia and Clio were talking to Ike and Pit. "Care to explain how you pulled all of these characters into our world?"

"We really don't know," Thalia told him. "It just kinda happened when we were playing and we tested it out after those four showed up with Roy."

Clio added. "We can bring characters in if they fall off screen."

"I don't know what you mean by "falling off screen" but there's no way to get them back, is there?"

The twins shook their head. "Not to our knowledge," Thalia said.

"So they're stuck here?" Gerard asked.

The girls nodded.

"And you're not going to let me send them somewhere else."

The girls nodded again.

"They're home for _one day_ alone and they found a fucking harem." The girls burst out in laughter as Ike and Pit just gaped.

Pit stared. "A harem?!"

The girls cackled. "We haven't heard you cuss for years!"

Roy, Link, and Marth looked over in confusion at Pit's exclamation. "What's going on?"

Gerard practically snarled. "You're going to eat the food the girls prepared for you and then I'm finding you rooms in the house. Girls, go shower, I will be moving your stuff to the master suite. Have you eaten anything yet?"

"Yeah, we were eating when we were waiting for the rest of the food to cook," Clio told him.

"It's really good," Thalia told the guys. Marth muttered.

"It looks burnt."

"Excuse you," Gerard turned, "I hope I didn't hear that, right?"

"Oh no! I said that it's great that it's not too burnt. Just the right amount?" Marth hastily laughed out. Gerard nodded.

"That's what I thought."

"Heh… heh… heh…" the guys laughed awkwardly. The twins just giggled.

"Enjoy breakfast!" Clio called as they walked out of the room.

"See you guys in a bit," Thalia chimed afterwards, closing the doors. "We're gonna go get ready for the day."

Clio called out, voice growing as they raced up the stairs: "We might take you shopping later."

Gerard looked at their clothing. "While regal and impressive, I doubt it would be looked upon favorably in this day and age."

"MY FUCKING KNEE! THALIA! WHY DID YOU PUSH ME?!"

"HASTA LA VISTA, BABY!"

"THAT'S NOT FUNNY!"

"I WANT FIRST SHOWER!"

They heard Clio's weary voice: "You could have just asked!"

"YOU WOULD HAVE SAID THAT YOU WERE OLDER SO YOU GOT IT!"

"AND YOU WOULD HAVE COUNTERED WITH THE FACT THAT YOU WERE YOUNGER SO YOU SHOULD HAVE GOTTEN IT!"

The boys just stared in confusion. They were the oddest royals they had ever met. Maybe the game designers had never met a real royal before. Or maybe the girls just didn't care because they knew the guys had already heard everything** through the glass.**

Gerard could only sigh and shake his head. "Whatever. Tomorrow, I shall give you a test to judge whether or not I find you suitable to be bodyguards for the Harkonas. Roy has already taken the first part of this test, so all that's left for him is a physical examination. Considering that I hit him with a car and he survived, I figure he'll do quite nicely. Until then, accustom yourselves to this world and the girls will probably teach you the basic ins and outs later. I have to get to work finding everyone rooms and talking to our employees."

-0-0-0-0-0-0-

The breakfast went by smoother than the boys had expected with Gerard obviously making an effort to be polite and get to know the guys. When Pit had asked about it (Bless the tactless little angel's soul), Gerard merely responded that since his girls liked them, he would try to get to know them before judging if they were suitable or not. The boys were glad that the biscuits and the eggs came out well because the pancakes did not *cough understatement cough*.

After the breakfast, Gerard led them on a basic tour of the house, showing them the east wing, since his girls were showering in the west wing. After showing them where everything was, he left them to explore on their own with Pope, the Saint Bernard keeping an eye on them. Ike was slightly wary with the dog from his previous experience, but Pope had calmed down quite nicely.

The girls were in their room, and had both just finished taking showers. They were sitting on the large master bed, sprawled out comfortably in various states of dress.

"I can't believe that they're really here," Clio muttered.

Thalia nodded. "I was sure that when we woke up this morning, it would just be a dream. But there they were: sleeping in the captain's chair."

The girls flashed back to when they had woken up a few hours earlier. They had almost squealed from how awesome it was from seeing them sleeping. Marth was sleeping on the other couch, laying half off, with his head on the armrest. Ike sat next to him, slumped down with his legs stretched out in front of him. Link was sprawled out on the ground in front of the couch, clutching a bomb and Pit was cuddled up next to Ike, his knees and face pressed into Ike's side and his wings relaxed behind him. The twins had oohed and aahed at the sight, since it was adorable, before returning to their devious selves.

They stole Marth's sword, tiara, and cape from where he had placed it, snagged Link's master sword, belt, hat, and shield, taken Pit's laurels and bow, they had tried to take Ragnell, along with Ike's cape and headband, but failed because Thalia couldn't lift the sword.

The twins were still surprised that they hadn't noticed.

Clio smiled. "I think they actually feel safe here, that's why they haven't noticed that we took their stuff."

Thalia grinned. "I think they'll notice soon."

Just when they said that, on the other side of the house, Link shrieked as he realized his hat was missing. Marth self-consciously reached up to straighten his tiara (that wasn't there) with a sense of foreboding. Pit laughed at Link's apparent obliviousness before Link pointed out that Pit's laurels were missing. Ike chuckled, figuring out that the girls had taken their stuff, before he connected the dots and went to check for his headband. It was gone as well.

Roy cackled at their obvious expressions of dismay. "They got you good! I wonder where they put your stuff!"

The girls giggled from their room, wondering when the guys would appear. Of course, the guys would never find their things and Gerard would be their line of defense. They could hear him outside.

"Where do you think you're going?" Gerard's clipped tone was hostile.

"But they took our stuff," Pit said quietly.

"And you will not do a thing about it! At least until they are ready for you. Now move along," Gerard whistled, and immediately, the rest of the big dogs appeared: the happy Great Dane, Naruto, was at the front of the group, followed by the German Shepherd, Zuko, his mate, the Husky, Katara, the Border Collie Deanna, her mate, the Australian Shepherd, Castiel, and finally the petulant black Lab, Sasuke. Gerard nodded his head at them and proceeded to give them instructions while the boys fought off the urge to facepalm. "Alright troops, each of you will be assigned to one of the humans to ensure that they get around well and don't bother the Harkonas. Naruto! You follow the blonde."

Naruto wagged his tail at Link and Link smiled. "I'm gonna get along with you, boy! I can tell!"

"Zuko, you follow Ike. They tell me that you have similarities with him." Zuko gave Gerard a look, clearly sick of being compared to his namesake.

"Katara, follow Marth. Castiel, with Pit. You're both angels apparently. Sasuke, go with Naruto for good measure. You were going to do that anyways, I can tell. And finally, Deanna, go with Roy. She'll keep him in line. Now then, I'm going to go and set up your rooms. Don't bother the girls, and I shall see you later."

Gerard walked off and the guys looked at each other blankly.

"What are we going to do now?" Link asked.

They all shrugged.

"I guess just wander," Marth said with a shrug. Link saw a window at the end of the hall.

"Looks like it's going to rain," he commented, narrowing his eyes. "Damn, those clouds are moving fast. It's almost as if they're looking for something."

Pit scoffed a bit. "Clouds don't look for stuff. Stupid Mr. I've-Never-Looked-Inside-A-Pot."

Ike frowned a bit, knowing that Pit doesn't normally lash out like that. Link growled.

"Seriously, Ike! You told him?! I told you not to tell anyone!"

"No, you didn't."

"I thought about it!"

Roy cut in, stopping the fight. "I think Link's right. Those clouds look pretty ominous."

Just then, the heard three cracks of lightning as the sky seemed to rip and the lights in the house flickered off.

"DAMN IT! MY PHONES DEAD!" they heard Clio yell in frustration. Thalia laughed.

"Mine's not! Shit! Yes it is! Fuck you, turtlefish!"

They heard Clio cackle evilly. "Yeah! Blame everything on the turtlefish!" The girls erupted into giggles.

"I'm going to go and get the flashlight," Thalia said.

Then the boys flinched and the girls let out small eeping noises as they heard three loud crashes outside of the girls' room.

* * *

**So yeah! We're not going to do much of an author's note this week, since we're rushing –but new cliffhanger! Yay! We already have the next chapter planned out, but don't worry, there's only a few more chapters until we get to daily ridiculousness and shenanigans. So yeah. We apologize for any mistakes because we didn't go back and edit this thirty or so times like the rest of the chapters. R&R and if you see any errors, please let us know so that we can change it. Thank you!**

**Elodie and Eloise are out of here!**

**Au revoir, nos amis!**


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